Guys: 'Think of it as your dream garage'

K.C. Alfred

Michael Salmon, left, looks on as Devon Read uses a CNC router to cut pieces for a wood iPad cash register at MakerPlace. Salmon is one of the owners of the industrial workshop that is open to the public.

Michael Salmon, left, looks on as Devon Read uses a CNC router to cut pieces for a wood iPad cash register at MakerPlace. Salmon is one of the owners of the industrial workshop that is open to the public. (K.C. Alfred)

Steve Herrick, left, Brian Salmon and his brother Michael Salmon are the owners of MakerPlace, an industrial workshop that's open to the public. — K.C. Alfred

MakerPlace

Who owns it: Brian Salmon, Michael Salmon, Steve Herrick

What it is: A place to use a variety of fabrication tools and work on projects. There’s equipment for woodworking, metalworking, electronics, embroidery, sewing and specialty tools such as laser cutters and engravers. Many of the tools are computer controlled, allowing rapid, precise work without the steep learning curve.

Extras: You can rent a locker for your stuff. There are “incubator” offices upstairs for businesses to operate out of the same building as the fab shop. The Salmon brothers have already moved their business, Soul Ryde Inc., into that space. With roots in the skateboard industry, it is now a “laser based job shop” that makes custom signs.

Value proposition: “Think of it as your dream shop ... the one you’d build if you had a really big garage and a huge budget.” Annual membership starts at $135 a month

Eric Robinson is a tinkerer. His garage is crammed with the tools he needs for his varied hobbies, which range from robotics to beekeeping. So when he heard about a new, shared-use fabrication shop with the latest high-tech equipment, he signed up right away.

MakerPlace opened to the public in March. Its 14,000-square-foot building is well lit, with vast work benches, wall-size whiteboards and high ceilings echoing with the joyful noise of wood saws and sandblasting equipment.

“All this equipment makes my man juices run high,” Robinson said. “I had two of my friends tell me about it and I immediately came down. I want to try everything eventually.”

Billed as “your dream shop,” this facility is the first of its kind in San Diego. It features tools that tinkerers covet but would never be able to afford, such as:

• A 3-D “printer” (applies layer upon layer of plastic to make a model from a computer design). Similar machines cost around $50,000.

• A CNC router (uses a computer program to cut wood precisely) that runs about $35,000.

• An industrial sewing machine (good for handling thick materials like leather or canvas); similar models sell for $3,000.

Robinson spends several evenings a week making things there. So far, he has constructed a beehive and has begun work on a prototype of a car attachment that — at least in theory — could improve gas mileage.

The shop was established by Steve Herrick, a retired Silicon Valley businessman who lives in Coronado; and Brian and Michael Salmon, brothers who own a San Diego custom-fabrication business. With private funding, they obtained about half of the equipment at auctions and the rest — such as the lasers and sewing gear — brand new.

“Everybody’s wanted to do this; everybody’s had this idea — but nobody’s pulled the trigger,” said Michael Salmon. “There’s nothing like this in San Diego with the amount of tools and the quality of the space.”

Similar to TechShop in the Bay Area, the shop is open to people who pay a membership fee, typically $135 a month. Through word-of-mouth advertising, 120 people joined in the first three weeks.

“This is (practically) zero overhead; I don’t know why there isn’t a line out the door,” said Pat Downing, an artist and metalworker who joined and rents a locker for his supplies. “One of the things I’ve done is just come out here and play.”

Places like these are associated with the “Maker Movement,” a recent trend described as a technology-based extension of DIY culture. The recession helped boost interest in hands-on work, and the falling price of high-tech tools and materials made more projects possible, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The movement toward using high tech tools to make things in the developed world — as opposed to sending specs to China — could herald the beginnings of a new Industrial Revolution, The Economist has said. Around 100 shared-tool facilities have sprung up around the world in the past five years, mainly in urban areas, according to news reports.

“The core of it is getting back to independent manufacturing,” said Michael Salmon, “putting people back in charge of what’s going on, as opposed to outsourcing.”

We asked three people about their projects.

MakerPlace members

Eric Robinson, 56, San Diego

Day job: owns OmniSafe, which produces fittings used in aerospace and semiconductors: “My fittings are on the Mars Rover.” Involved in the San Diego Space Society. (omnisafe.net)

Why he joined: His garage is full of tools already.

What he’s making: A prototype of a wave-patterned attachment that could help cars get better gas mileage “by increasing the aerodynamic surface of the car to reduce friction.” He plans to use the CNC router to cut a model out of wood, then paint it using the professional spray painting equipment.

Other: “I’m a beekeeper, so I used their saws and lumber to make a beehive.”

Maker Movement

The movement supports people interested in engineering-type pursuits such as electronics, robotics and 3-D printing, as well as the traditional “making” skills like woodworking and sewing. Information: makerfaire.com

Pat Downing, 64, of San Diego

Day job: Works iron and steel into tourist trinkets as the blacksmith at the state park in Old Town. Before the economic downturn, he worked in architectural metalsmithing for “ultra high-end” homes, he said. An artist, he won first place for one of his “fold-formed copper” pieces at the Fallbrook Art Show last year. (patdowning.com)

Why he joined: The how-to classes, and the affordable rates. “One of the things I’ve done is just come out here and play.”

What he’s making: Art, often involving interesting use of the “patina” in metal. He just learnedhow to weld copper rings together for another art project.

Devon Read, 31 San Diego native who lives in Denver

Day job: Co-founder (with Ryan Jordan and Amy Oliveira) of Happy Owl Studio, which designs and sells iPad cases and accessories, as well as MacBook briefcases. (happyowlstudio.com)

Why he joined: The tools, obviously. He’s also hoping to meet people who might want to work on fabricating some of the company’s products. “We want to turn this into a factory.”

What he’s making: He and Jordan are making a prototype of an old-style wood cash register box that’s built around an iPad and a Square credit card reader and offers “fully integrated payment processing” while looking cool. They’re cutting the box parts with the CNC router.